Thursday, January 6, 2011

Blessing in Disguise?

I don't want to jump the gun here, but we've had quite the amazing past week in the Bennion household. Jack decided, after 6 months of not eating anything orally, to open his mouth up to a spoon and let mommy feed him! And not only did this happen once, but this has happened over, and over, and over again for almost a week! I am in total shock.

Jack was very, very ill last week. We woke up one morning to lots and lots of vomiting. I immediately put on my "shunt infection/malfunction" radar and began to take note of all the signs. Vomit? Check. Fever? Slight. Cognitive and weird disorientation? Check. That combo sent us to the hospital. We were admitted right away and plans were being made to send us to a larger hospital (they don't mess around with shunt and lung issues with preemies). The crappy thing was that our Neurosurgeon was on vacation. My heart sank. We would be under the hands of someone we didn't even know.

Well tests came back and showed no signs of hydrocephalus or shunt malfunction. Phew! So we got to stay in Helena. I was a little worried about this scenario, given the sub-par treatment we have received in the past. But, thankfully, Jack's pediatrician went into overdrive, checking off every single thing it could/might be. This meant lots and lots of pokes and prodding for Jack. For a kid who doesn't cry, he was sure crying up a storm. All tests came back negative (seriously THANK GOD!) and we were sent home after 2 days with a kid with some sort of virus, non-threatening. It just had to make its course.

Those 3 days of not eating sure made for one ravenous boy. He was hungry and was fussing because of it. We have a child who has never, ever fussed for food. He was fed through a tube from 28ish weeks gestation. He probably doesn't quite have hunger figured out yet. But seriously, some miracle occurred and a light switched on in his brain... saying "I"M HUNGRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

So now we have an eater. We are sticking to baby food, because we don't want to overwhelm him with texture or make him gag and bring back oral aversion. I really believe his sickness was a blessing in disguise. It allowed his body to actually feel hungry. It made him want to eat. That primal, natural thing that every being on the planet has. He felt it and he ate.

I can't tell you how much a struggle food has been in our life with Jack. Nutrition is such a basic element that many take for granted. I am really, really hoping he can keep eating up. But we have seen cycles like this before and I just pray he starts to LOVE food. We give him a wide range of stuff, but we definitely try to make it yummy.

I know we have said it before, but I have to exclaim it from the rooftops again - Eat Jack, eat!

7 comments:

So sorry to hear Jack was ill, but so glad to hear he is wanting to eat! We have fought a lot of battles, but eating has never been one of them and for that I have always been grateful. Praying Jack keeps up the great work and learns to love all foods!